Dickey retires from Superior Clay after 50 years
Jeff Dickey of New Philadelphia has more than 50 years working at Superior Clay in Uhrichsville.
Jeff Dickey of New Philadelphia has spent more than 50 years working at Superior Clay in Uhrichsville, but all that is about to change soon. Dickey will retire on Jan. 3.
Dickey, now 71, began working at the plant in 1972 when things in his life were changing.
“I had just got married, so I needed a better job. I started on the afternoon shift first,” Dickey said.
The money was a motivator. He was only making about 90 cents an hour at his previous job. When he changed to Superior Clay, his starting pay was around $4 an hour.
His first job was helping to make slip seal. The substance is no longer used. It was a self-sealing tar product that sealed roadway curves when it was heated by the sun.
That job lasted about 10-12 years. Then Dickey began working on the day shift in the beehives. The beehives are the term they used for the large ovens or kilns in which clay products were fired. Dickey’s job was to help remove the finished items after they were fired. A setting crew set up the items to be fired.
“That’s how they used to do it all back then,” Dickey said. “Now they have continuous kilns.”
Items are placed in the continuous kiln, and they are moved along through the unit until finished. Then they will come out the other end.
Dickey’s current job is making chimney tops, yard ornaments and other decorative building materials, a process that is all done by hand. He also makes all the plaster molds used for specialty pieces.
“They don’t want me to go, but the body’s telling me I have to,” Dickey said. “I like my job but just can’t keep doing it.”
The job keeps him busy, and he’ll miss his co-workers.
“I like working with the guys, carrying on with them and talking with them,” Dickey said.
He worries about finding enough to keep him busy after retirement but says his perfect day would be golfing in the morning and fishing at night. His other hobbies include hunting, especially turkey hunting. He also bowled for more than 40 years. He and his wife also enjoy spending time at the YMCA in Dover. Dickey enjoys weightlifting and the hot tub and steam room there.
“My wife’s afraid she might have to go back to work, won’t be able to take me,” Dickey said.
Work is something Dickey has known all his life.
“I’ve always been a worker. My dad had me digging ditches at 9 years old, so that’s how we paid for the rent and stuff back in those days, back in the ‘60s and early ‘70s. So that’s pretty much all I know is work,” Dickey said.
In anticipation of his retirement, Dickey has already cut back to five hours of work each day.
“I like the place. They have taken care of me, and I tried to take care of them by my work,” Dickey said. “They helped me in some bad times, and it meant a lot.”
There is much to Dickey’s current job. He mixes the clay in a giant bread dough mixer that was actually made to mix bread.
“We used to do it by hand, and it took forever,” Dickey said.
Another back saver is tables that can be raised to a comfortable height to work on the pieces. The process is not automated. There is still a lot of hand work done on the job, and pieces can get pretty detailed.
“You’re throwing the clay in there, and you’re pulling it back — make sure it evens out, no air pockets or anything like that,” Dickey said.
Some of the chimney tops Dickey made were sold to Hulk Hogan and other famous customers in Cleveland and California.
Dickey is married to Tanya Dickey, and they have two children and six grandchildren.
Dickey was following in his father Bob Dickey’s footsteps when he took the job at Superior Clay in 1972. A third generation now works at the plant, the couple’s son, Jeff Dickey Jr., who has more than 25 years at the business.